The Prophecy of the Marauders
by WithoutWax
Summary: There is a new girl in Hogwarts and a lot of funny things are starting to happen. Slytherins hanging around Gryffindors and other mindboggling activities. An AU written after the third book that takes place during the sixth year at Howarts.
1. Prologue: The Prophecy

**Summary: Well, seeing how this is just a prologue, this chapter will just be background story and setting the scene for a plot.**

**Disclaimer: Everything belongs to the great JK Rowling, except for the plot and of course the characters that I made up.**

**A/N: This takes place approximately during the sixth year at Hogwarts, but it was written after the third book, so it has pretty much no relevance to the actual series. Please read and review! I even like bad ones!**

Prologue: The Prophecy

_"Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, Prongs,  
they all used to be together as one,  
After a couple years went by,  
the friendship that bound them began to fray,  
Moony went off,  
to find acceptance,  
Wormtail went on,  
to betray his friends,  
Padfoot got wrongly accused,  
and Prongs,  
he died at the hand of a friend,  
Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, Prongs,  
only together once more,  
after that night,  
never again will,  
Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, Prongs,  
ride through the night,  
But hopes shines once more,  
another group born of four,  
Storm, the werewolf's heir,  
will ride with power at their side,  
Padfoot's heir will come to find,  
secrets deep, are theirs to hide,  
Wormtail's chosen heir,  
will wreak terror, near,  
Prongs, the secret heir,  
ill hide, until their power's strong and true,  
together all, with Potter's help,  
will, destroy the dark lord's terrible reign."_ The weak, Sibyl Trelawny, prophesized in a breath barely above a whisper.

"Good. Good. Anything else?" A cold, hard voice hissed from underneath the hood of a long, billowing cloak.

"Moony... Wormtail... Padfoot... Prongs..." The Prophetess began again.

"Drat!" The voice hissed, "Malfoy! Find this Wormtail, he sounds quite useful."

"Yes, m'lord, consider it done..." Malfoy whispered as he backed out of the dungeon.

Lord Voldemort paced the cold, damp dungeon, just wishing there was someone to kill...

His thoughts were interrupted by a piercing scream; the prophetess woke up from her trance.

"Why hello there... Thomas." Sibyl muttered.

"How many times do I have to tell you? It's Voldemort now!" Lord Voldemort told her.

"Tom!" Sibyl replied.

"Voldemort!" Voldemort bellowed.

"Tom!" Sibyl said coolly.

"Voldemort!" Voldemort roared.

"Voldemort!" Sibyl yelled

"Tom!" Voldemort shouted, "No! Wait! Voldemort"

The door squeaked slowly open, and Lucius Malfoy walked slowly inside the dungeon.

"Am I interrupting anything, m'lord?" he hissed softly.

"Nothing, nothing at all." Lord Voldemort said very slowly, drawing out his words. "What is it that you want anyway?"

"Only to tell you, m'lord, that I have found Wormtail..."


	2. Chapter One: New Robes

**Summary: Draco goes shopping! **

**Disclaimer: Everything belongs to the great JK Rowling, except for the plot and of course the characters that I made up.**

**A/N: Be surprised! I had no idea I was going to get this chapter up in less than a week! Once again, all reviews are appreciated!**

Chapter One: New Robes

Sleep was hard to come by in the Malfoy manor these days, Draco thought bitterly as he stared out the window of his bedroom, which could have easily have fit a small house inside of it. Even though he was not privy to the plans of the death eaters, it was clear to him that there was something going on, something colossal. Normally, this would not have bothered Draco, but his father kept on mentioning odd things in front of his son. Something of massive proportions was going to be happening at Hogwarts this year, but Draco was not allowed to know. It was probably for the better, too, seeing how the headmaster seemed to be treating Draco with more and more suspicion lately. It was not as though he could help who he was related too. All that his father would tell him was that there was going to be a new student in his grade, but that was not much, seeing how the Daily Prophet had already reported three small articles on the matter. Draco just knew that his father would want him to convince this new student to join his own group of friends and perhaps later, the death eaters. It was the same every year.

The daily prophet had barely mentioned the murder of a fairly prominent, American witch. The had mentioned that it was lucky that her daughter happened to be on holiday with a friend when the attack occurred and that she was going to be moving to England to live with her father, who's name had not been mentioned. His father was often complaining that those American death eaters could never do their job right, honestly, covering a murder as a potion gone wrong. Draco thought that if he had to hear about the attack one more time that he was going to go mad. Luckily for him, today he was going by himself to Diagon Alley to purchase his school supplies. Lucius was much too busy with the death eaters lately to bother doing anything with his son.

The sun had fully risen by this point, and he assumed that it was probably time for him to get ready for the trip. He could not wait to get out of the house.

As soon as the sun had risen over the tops of the shops in London, a peculiar girl in the Leaky Cauldron awoke. She opened her clear, brown eyes and looked around for a moment in confusion. After a few seconds, she gathered where she was and sighed softly. She had been dreaming that her mother's brutal death had just been a terrible nightmare and she was back home and safe. Sadly, this was not the case. She spent a moment remembering the heart-crushing letter that she had received on vacation from the League for Magical Law Enforcement. How could a mere potion explosion kill her mother? Her mother had been a strong force in their wizarding community, and she dealt with much more dangerous situations that most people did in their whole lives before breakfast. Most of all, her mother was strong through all the criticism that she received about being a single mother. A single tear rolled down her cheek, and she curled up to go back to sleep. She slept a lot these days; it was just easier that getting up and facing the rest of world.

Two sharp knocks sounded on the thin door of her room, followed by a voice that called, "Auralie Shasta? This is the Deputy Headmistress of Hogwarts. I am here on behalf of your father. He chose a most unfortunate time to become ill. Please let me in."

She dragged herself out of bed, threw on a bathrobe, and shuffled towards the door, barely noticing the icy tile on her bare feet. When she opened the door, she saw what appeared to be the most severe woman in all of time.

"Still in bed?" the professor squawked. "Teenagers, they sleep half the day away. Now go put some clothes on. We have a lot to get done today."

Auralie stood there for a moment, a little shocked. This woman seemed to be oblivious to the fact that her mother died. She could not believe that someone could be so insensitive to what another person was feeling. She just stood and stared at the professor, who had taken it upon herself to start picking up her things and arranging an outfit for Auralie to wear.

"Now go and change dear," the professor ordered her cheerfully. "We don't have much time. We have to do all of your shopping in one day."

Unable to argue, Auralie grabbed the clothes and wandered into the bathroom and changed. After a few minutes she emerged looking very pretty, even though it was a professor that chose her clothing. She had even washed off her face, so that she no longer looked like she had been doing nothing but crying for the last week.

"Come along now," the professor called after her as she bustled out of the door.

Draco wandered around Diagon Alley, trying to decide where to go first. He had a lot to buy, but he was not in any particular hurry. He decided to get the worst of his shopping out of the way first, robe shopping. It was not buying clothes that Draco minded, but buying school robes was boring. He had no options really, just plain and black.

He walked into the store and looked around for some help, but Madame Malkin was already helping a girl. Unfortunately, patience was not one of Draco's stronger virtues. He stood in the doorway, looking around until he spotted Professor McGonagall sitting in a chair next to the mirrors. The only reason that Draco could think of why Professor McGonagall would be in a robes shop with a student was if the student was special in some way. Draco would bet his entire manor that the girl being fitted was the new girl. Her back was to him, but Draco could see her in the mirror. She had dark brown hair and a fair complexion. What startled Draco about her appearance, though, were her eyes. They were a lighter brown than her hair, but they held such a deep, terrible sadness that he wanted to give her a hug or something. This was surprising to Draco because he could never remember a time where he just wanted to hug someone. It was a strange feeling, but he seemed to be drawn to her.

He found that he had to say something to her, and before he could stop himself he was saying, "I don't remember seeing you around school before. You must be new. I'm Draco, Draco Malfoy."

The girls eyes widened in shocked as she turned around. Obviously, she had not noticed him staring at her in the mirror.

"I'm Auralie Shasta," She replied softly, a little intimidated by the strangers fancy clothes and startling appearance.

Professor McGonagall stood up in a hurry, nearly knocking over a nearby rack of dress robes.

"Time to leave," she announced to the girl. "We still have a lot to do before we leave tonight."

The girl shrugged out of the robes and followed the professor out of the door. Draco merely shrugged and went to be fitted for new robes. He was not too concerned with the sudden panic at his name. After all, it was his father who ordered the attack to kill her mother. At the same time, he knew that it would not be the last time he saw that girl.


	3. Chapter Two: Owls and Orders

**Disclaimer: JK Rowling owns everything... Lucky...**

**A/N: It took me a little longer than I liked to get this chapter up, but here it is! Please review!**

Chapter Two: Owls and Orders

Auralie sat quietly in her room, trying to pack the large piles of school supplies into the relatively small trunk that the professor had bought for her. Somehow she just could not manage to get the robes in if the collapsible cauldron was in the trunk as well. She was pondering how to get her stuff to all fit inside or at least remember a spell to expand the trunk when a quiet tapping sounding from the window. She looked outside and saw a large eagle owl seemingly attacking her window. Seeing how she had no idea who would be sending her a letter, she opened the window to let the owl in. After circling the room for a bit, he landed on the top of her wardrobe, just high enough so that she could not reach him.

"Bloody owl!" She swore under her breath. "Get down here!"

It was at that moment she noticed that the owl had no letter to deliver. It just seemed content to preen itself on the top of her wardrobe. This was a bit peculiar, even for the wizarding world. Just as she thought this, someone rapped their knuckles on the door twice.

"Just a minute," Auralie called, making sure that she had her wand securely up her sleeve where Professor McGonagall had recommended her to leave it.

She crossed the room in three steps, and stood next to the door. She swung the door open so that she could see who was standing there before they could see her. To her surprise, the person was in fact the pale boy from the robe shop. He seemed a little unnerved to be put at wand point.

"What do you want?" Auralie spat at him, annoyed at having a visitor. She just wanted to get the school and try to start her life over again.

"Er… My owl, er, isn't the best in the world and took off," Draco started lamely. "The tracer charm led me here."

"Is that it, then?" Auralie asked. "Call him then. I can't get the bloody beast of the wardrobe."

Draco made a clicking noise, and the owl gave Auralie a pained expression and then flew to Draco's waiting wrist.

"He doesn't seem to like you very much," Auralie observed. "Any particular reason why?"

"He prefers my father over me," Draco explained. "I think my father prefers him over myself as well. He was supposed to be a gift to me, but he hardly ever listens. Stupid bird."

The bird turned and gave the boy a harsh glare. He rolled his eyes and looked over at Auralie.

"You're new here, aren't you? Sixth year, right?" He asked with a small smile.

Auralie nodded hesitantly. No one except for the teachers and her father were supposed to know that she was moving here. Apparently there had been a leak to the press that her father had not been aware of.

"My name's Auralie," she told him, "Auralie Shasta."

He raised one eyebrow and nodded just slight as though this information was not new to him. He extended one hand to her and replied, "Draco Malfoy."

When Auralie barely touched his hand to shake it, a searing pain shot up her arm to her heart. Her eyes began to water, but she tried not to let it show. Much to her surprise a tear ran down her cheek.

"Are you alright?" Draco asked concerned that he had gripped her hand too tightly.

"I'm fine," She stuttered. "Sorry… My mother… You reminded me…"

Without any more explanation, she turned and shut the door in his face. She could sense that Draco had a dark background, and she did not want to stay long enough for the rest of his family to show up. She quickly packed up the rest of her things and sent her small, black owl to Professor McGonagall to signal that she was ready to leave.

Draco was not noticeably upset when he returned from buying his school supplies, but Lucius Malfoy could still sense a change in the boy's mood. He appeared to be more confused and frustrated at Auralie's actions rather than angry. He did not really get angry until he was summoned to Lucius's study for a 'talk.' Lucius's talks were usually one of two things: a lecture or an order. There was no doubt in Draco's mind of what this was about; he was resentful of being ordered around like a servant by his own father, though. What could a sixteen-year-old girl have done to anger the Dark Lord in the first place?

He fixed his pale blonde hair in the hallway mirror and strode into the study. Lucius was sitting behind an antique mahogany desk that was built to intimidate, not that Lucius needed it. He was leaning forward on the desk with both of his elbows propped up and his chin resting on his fingers. His glare penetrated Draco as he crossed the room.

Draco made a movement to sit in one of the fine, leather chairs facing Lucius's desk.

"I did not invite you to sit," Lucius drawled slowly, sitting up to his full height behind the desk. "In any case, this will not take long enough for it to be worth your while to sit."

Draco raised one eyebrow and walked around the chair to face his father.

"The girl is en route to Hogwarts," Lucius stated without any clarification.

"I saw her in Diagon Alley today," Draco replied. "She was buying her supplies."

"Excellent well. It is good to know your enemy," Lucius said without any real praise. Draco nodded slightly to take the compliment with the proper grace.

"The Dark Lord wishes you to know as much about the girl as possible. He wants you to be her confidante," Lucius instructed him; not even trying to hide his doubt that Draco could ever do such a thing. "You have the freedom to date her or be her very best friend. Under no circumstances are you let her loose confidence in you. You will be going to Hogwarts early. I have informed the headmaster of an unfortunate doxy infestation of the manor. Do you understand?"

Draco nodded again. He really hated being used as the Dark Lord's puppet in Hogwarts. While there was plenty of other Slytherins, none of them quite held the confidence and charm that Draco had. He was truly one of a kind.

He was turning to go pack when Lucius stopped him with his words.

"If you fail," Lucius informed him, "then don't even bother coming home."


	4. Chapter Three: Light and Dark

**Disclaimer: I don't own a thing... Well... I own Auralie, and that's it!!**

**A/N: Yay for another chapter! Sorry for the long wait... Hopefully someone gives my muses a good hard kick so that I have inpsiration for the next chapter right away!!**

Chapter Three: Light and Dark

Auralie climbed into the train about two hours later from some dreary, London train station. The air was still and slightly chilly for summer. It was so quiet that Auralie could hear herself breathe. There did not appear to be any other people taking this train to Hogwarts, but Auralie assumed that this was all for the better, at least she could sleep a little more. She took a right and decided to look for a comfortable, empty compartment, but the nearest compartment to the entrance was brimming with people. She was busy wondering who those people were when someone cleared their throat behind her. She jumped about a foot in the air.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you," a boy with startling green eyes and jet black hair apologized. "I was just looking for my friends."

"You're…" Auralie stuttered. "You're Harry Potter."

Harry was used to getting this reaction from strangers. What was different was that the girl actually looked familiar to him, though he could not place where he had met her before. It was something in those startling brown eyes that looked familiar…

"Sorry, but do I know you?" Harry asked politely. "You look very familiar. I could have sworn I've met you before."

Auralie shook her head. "I don't think I've had the pleasure. I'm Auralie Shasta. I'm a new student this year."

"Harry Potter, er, obviously," he replied. "I read what happened to your mum. Sorry about that. You're welcome to join me and my friends if you'd like."

Auralie would feel a little odd sitting with a group of people that she had yet to meet. She was a little shy and hesitant to meet new people. People apologizing for her mother's death was getting a little irritating as well. She just wanted to sit and think on her own.

"Perhaps next time," she answered. "I think I just want to sleep for a bit."

"I'll see you around then," he called after her as she entered the compartment next to his friends' compartment.

Upon entering the compartment, she levitated her trunk up to the rack above the seats, dimmed the lights so that she could barely see her own hands, conjured a pillow and a blanket, and promptly fell asleep.

* * *

Draco waited in the shadows of a nearby compartment waiting to hear Harry and his friends return to normal conversation. Naturally, they were discussing various things that would most definitely get at least one of them expelled, that is, if Dumbledore did not have such a soft spot for them. When he thought that no one would notice, Draco walked down the train to the new girl's compartment. He knocked softly on the door before walking in. 

The girl sat up in a hurry, her wand held out like a sword in front of her. "Who are you? What do you want?" She questioned Draco as a few red sparks flew out of her wand.

Draco turned the lights back up and replied softly, "Sorry. It's just me, Draco."

Irritated, she stuck her wand back in her purse. She turned back to the boy and asked, "Are you following me or something?"

"Er, no," Draco answered, "Actually, I saw you get on the train and thought that you might want some company, since you're new and all."

Auralie raised an eyebrow at this response, and said calmly, "You know that you are a terrible liar."

"Only when I want to be," Draco laughed with a smirk appearing on his face. "Actually, I really didn't want to sit with Potter. I think I would suffocate with all the heroism in the air."

"Jealous are you?" Auralie asked slightly amused at the look of horror that Draco gave her.

"Jealous?" Draco replied, "Hardly. I don't think there's anything special about having a bloody scar on your forehead. It makes me sick all the special treatment that Potter gets for just being in the wrong place at the wrong time. He's a pompous git, really."

Auralie raised an eyebrow slightly. "You do a good impression of jealous."

"I'm really not." Draco grinned. "I am pretty content with being the sexiest man in Hogwarts."

"Sexiest?" Auralie asked mischievously. "I don't know… I've heard that Snape would give you a good run for your money. But that's all speculation from McGonagall's point of view."

Draco's eyes bugged out, most improperly, as he sputtered, "Thank you for possibly scarring my inner eye for life. I think I might just be permanently emotionally traumatized now. Honestly, McGonagall and Snape? He's like half her age. Who would have thought?"

"Well," Auralie replied, "Apparently she's a new fad. All the cool kids are hanging out with Professor McGonagall during vacations."

Draco shook his head. "That was last year. This year all the cool kids hang out with me."

Auralie rolled her eyes and muttered something under her breath that sounded a lot like "egotistical, self-loving git."

Draco laughed at this and scooted closer to her so that he could wrap an arm around her. "You know you love it," He whispered into her ear.


	5. Chapter Four: Explosive Beginnings

**Disclaimer: I wish that I owned Harry Potter... but I don't...**

**A/N: Sorry about the long wait, but college happened... And the lack of reviews didn't inspire me to write... So... if you want more... then REVIEW!!**

Chapter Four: Explosive Beginnings

The rest of the train ride went by surprisingly quickly and was filled with witty banter back and forth between Auralie and Draco. Much to their dismay, they were soon pulling into the station, and neither really wanted to part each other's company.

"So, what house are you in or do you even know yet?" Draco asked her as they shuffled off of the train, taking their dear, sweet time.

"I was supposed to be sorted at the beginning of the year feast, but I'm not sure how plans have changed. I wasn't supposed to come this early, but my father…" She began. With a shake of her head, she changed the topic. "So, what do you think they professor are going to have us do since we're practically a month early for school? I mean, have you ever come early before?"

As Draco helped her into a horseless carriage, he replied, "I don't know. My house usually doesn't get doxy infestations, but obviously my mother forgot to clean up a potion and doxies love leftover magic. Knowing the professors, though, they will probably want to make sure that you're caught up with the rest of the year in all of our subjects, and they'll probably have the rest of us review with you as well."

Auralie leaned her head on his shoulder, relaxing, and commented, "Sounds dreadful. They _would_ make us do schoolwork during the holidays."

"Well," Draco shrugged, "I don't suppose that they could have a half dozen, hormone crazed teenagers running around the castle with nothing to do. That could only lead to trouble. The magical trio would be trying to curse me every five minutes, and I wouldn't have time to keep you safe from all the bubbly and cheeriness that is Harry Potter's world."

Auralie shuddered at the mental images of fluffy bunnies and pink flowers that Draco's comment brought into her head. "You know, that almost makes schoolwork sound good!" Auralie replied. "Almost being the key word in that sentence."

The carriage pulled up to the castle, and Auralie had her breath taken away by the sight of all of the turrets and spires. Her eyes grew very large as she took in the stained glass windows and the large oak doors. This was nothing like her school in American had been. She would have never guessed that she would be going to school in a castle. It almost made her feel like Cinderella, a little out of place but knowing that she truly belonged here.

"Welcome to Hogwarts Ms. Shasta," a voice interrupted her thoughts. "I hope that you will find it as accommodating as your former school."

She turned to see who was addressing her and saw the most bizarre man she's ever seen. He had a silver beard that was long enough to tuck into his belt and hair that was nearly as long as her own. He was peering over his half moon glasses as though expecting a response from her.

"Er… Thank you," Auralie replied sheepishly.

She turned a slight shade of pink as the man took a glace at Draco's arm slung protectively around her waist and raised an eyebrow.

"I am Albus Dumbledore, headmaster," he informed her. "You will be sorted at the evening meal tonight, but for now Draco will show you around the castle."

Draco nodded slightly at this announcement and led Auralie out of the carriage.

"I hope you're not in Gryffindor," he said her with a grin. "Then you'd be around St. Potter all of the time."

"Heaven forbid!" Auralie cried out melodramatically. "And what would I ever do without my strong, handsome escort around me all of the time?"

"He would always be at your beck and call," Draco replied, just as melodramatically.

Laughing at their silliness, they made their way up to the castle doors to begin Auralie's guided tour.

* * *

Several hours later, Draco and Auralie found themselves entering the Great Hall. Auralie gasped as she took in the enchanted ceiling and the general largeness of the hall.

"We didn't have anything like this back at my old school," she whispered to Draco in awe.

"I think that you'll find that Hogwarts is quite unique," a girl with bushy brown hair said as she passed. "According to Hogwarts a History, there hasn't been any comparable school since the middle ages."

"Oh… really?" Auralie asked trying to appear politely interested as she zoned out.

Draco noticed this and gave a short laugh. "Granger, your mindless jabbering is scaring her. Give her a break, she just got here."

The girl puffed up indignantly and stormed off to the closest table where Harry Potter was sitting with a red-haired boy.

"Sorry about that," Draco whispered to Auralie, "If I didn't do something she might have talked us to death."

Giggling, the both of them started towards the far side of the hall. They had planned on sitting at the far table, but Professor McGonagall stopped them.

"Ms. Shasta, if you would come with me," she said tersely. "It is time for you to be sorted into your house so that you know what table to sit at."

Auralie gave a nervous look at Draco who shrugged in return as if to tell her that it would be alright. She trudged after McGonagall, wishing that she wouldn't be sitting by herself for the rest of the summer. The professor led her to the front of the room where all of the professors seemed to be sitting and had her face the rest of the hall.

"Students, as you may already have found out, we have a new student attending Hogwarts this year due to an unfortunate accident. Auralie Shasta is going to be a sixth year like the rest of you this year. I do hope that you all make her feel at home during the year." Professor McGonagall announced. With her final words she gave a pointed glance towards the red-headed boy and another one at Draco. "In order to be sorted into your house, you must try on the sorting hat, dear. If you would please step forward…"

Auralie looked at the hat on the stool in front of her. It seemed to be made of nothing but patches. Nervously she placed the hat on her head and waited. For a moment, nothing happened, but then a voice sounded in her ear.

"Hm… You're a smart one, I see…" the hat whispered to her. "Closing off your mind is a trick that the first years can't try… Ravenclaws are known for their knowledge… But at the same time this could be viewed as cunning, which of course would be Slytherin… Cunning as you are, all of this could be due to bravery… Hm… I think you'll like… GRYFFINDOR!"

With the hat's final word, Harry Potter and his friends stood up to cheer and the sorting hat exploded on the new girl's head. Dazed, she fell off of the stool and started shaking on the ground. The professors all rushed forward to help her and heard her muttering things under her breath too quiet that they could not make out the words. Draco rushed forward to help, but the professors pushed him away telling him that he could visit her in the hospital wing. After a couple of professors rushed the girl out of the room, Dumbledore asked for everyone to return to their seats. The rest of the meal was eaten in silence, but one question burned on everyone's minds: What in the world had just happened?

* * *

**A/N: You know what you want to do? You want to review... Yes, you really do!**


	6. Chapter Five: Suspicions

**Disclaimer: I wish that I owned Harry Potter... but, sadly, it's not mine. Only Auralie is...**

**A/N: Not nearly as long of a wait as last time! Only about a month! I'm trying to update much faster, now that I'm taking less classes, but I can only work as fast as my muse inspires...**

Chapter Five: Suspicions

After the feast, the golden trio gathered in the Gryffindor common room to discuss what had happened to the new girl at the feast. Nothing quite this strange had ever happened during a sorting in the entire history of the school. Needless to say, the Gryffindors were resolved to get to the bottom of this. The three of them gathered in the most comfortable chairs by the fire, the sun having set and leaving the castle quite drafty.

"Malfoy did something to hat to make it explode like that," Ron Weasley, the red headed boy that had been sitting with Harry, said in near hysteria. "I'm telling you, Hermy! It had to be him! Why else would the hat explode?"

"How many times do I have to ask you not to call me that?" Hermione Granger, the bushy headed brunette snapped back at him. "I cannot believe that in over a thousand years of history, not once has the sorting hat exploded! Maybe the original spell of the founders is wearing off and caused some sort of stress on the hat?"

Harry tried to bite back a chuckle as he heard her rant. "Honestly Hermione, that has got to be the absolutely worst idea that came out of your mouth. Draco tampering with the hat is much more likely than stress."

"I know… but you would have to use some pretty dark magic in order to make such a powerful magical item explode," she thought out loud.

"Yes! I bet that his slimy death-eater of a father has taught him more dark magic than there is in the restrictive section of the library!" Ron exclaimed.

"The restrictive section is not filled with dark magic, Ronald," Hermione spat out defensively. "It is filled with magic deemed too dangerous for the average student to learn."

Harry interrupted her new rant and said, "Hermione, that's really not the point. The point is that it was probably Malfoy who cursed the hat."

Hermione shook her head in frustration. "Why would Malfoy do that? It seemed like he was getting along with her quite well before the sorting. He's the type of person who only does something if it benefits him. Where is the benefit of nearly blowing off the head of someone?"

Ron and Harry sat for a long time pondering this question. Well, actually, Harry did. After a few moments, Ron's thoughts drifted off of the question to thoughts about quidditch. Harry, though, was trying to puzzle off a logical reason for Malfoy's behavior. Could it have something to do with Him? Maybe the girl was in some way connected to Harry and this was a plan of Voldemort's in order to crush the boy that lived. Why was the girl important though? Harry had never met her before today and had only heard about her last week. Surely it wasn't Voldemort's plan to strike out at Harry's acquaintances so that he couldn't make new friends. That sounded crazy, even for Voldemort. This had to be connected to Voldemort though. He was behind everything!

"I've got it!" Harry exclaimed, rubbing his forehead slightly. Thinking is something that should be done sparingly so as to avoid massive head trauma.

"Really?" asked Hermione, looking over the large book she was reading and rolled her eyes. "Let's hear it then."

"Draco blew up the hat on Voldemort's orders!" he announced. "Can't you see it? Draco has a death-eater father, so it has to be Voldemort's fault that the hat exploded."

Hermione smacked her hand against her forehead really hard while shaking her head in disbelief. "Not everything has to do with Voldemort, Harry. Why would You-Know-Who want to kill off the new girl? Why not try to make the hat explode on your head when you were being sorted? Why?"

Harry was positive that the Dark Lord was behind all of this strangeness, and Ron, of course, was behind Harry. They were now determined to find out Voldemort's plans and to stop them from destroying another innocent life.

* * *

Hours later in the hospital wing, a very dazed Auralie opened her eyes. Everything was starched and white around her making her feel as though she'd been locked up in an institution or something. In some ways, she was correct in this assumption. Madame Pomfrey had been given orders not to let Auralie leave the hospital wing until the matter of the sorting hat had been put at rest. Everything surrounding her was pristine and sparkling in appearance. The only color in the entire room came from the circle of her fellow Gryffindors surrounding her bed chattering aimlessly about a hat and an explosion. Auralie was more than slightly irritated at the noise that had some how managed to stir her sleeping mind.

Rubbing a little sleep out of her eyes, she tried to sit up and was instantly stopped by many pairs of hands.

"Madame Pomfrey wants you to stay in bed for awhile," Hermione lectured her. "I mean, with all of the head trauma you suffered from a hat exploding on your head… You're lucky to be alive."

"Why do you think the hat exploded?" Harry interrogated her. "It could have been a trap…"

"Yeah!" Ron exclaimed. "I'll bet ten galleons that it was Malfoy! He was giving you a right evil eye when the sorting hat called out Gryffindor. He has it in for all of us Gryffindors you know…"

This incessant jabbering went on for a couple more minutes until Auralie cried out, "Stop! Seriously, I just woke up. What happened and why are you interrogating me?"

There was a pause as the three of them looked at each as though trying to determine what exactly they should say to her.

"Well," Harry began slowly, "After the sorting hat called out that you are in Gryffindor, it exploded on top of your head. And the three of us, well, we think that it exploded because of a trap laid out by Draco Malfoy or Voldemort or both. Did I cover it all?"

Hermione nodded a little, looking a little miffed that she didn't get a chance to explain everything. Auralie, with a dazed expression on her face, looked around at them still confused.

"Are you insane?" She asked them. "Am I in an asylum? I'm pretty sure that the only thing that Draco Malfoy wants from me is a date. Blowing up the sorting hat on my head wouldn't be a good way to insure that, would it? Why would You-Know-Who come after me anyways?"

It was the golden trio's turn to stare at her like she was crazy. Anything that had to do with Voldemort was connected to Harry in some way. Obviously, the Dark Lord thought that killing this girl was vital to his plan of world domination or killing Harry. It was clear to the golden trio that whatever Lord Voldemort's plans were they involved Draco and this girl's untimely death.

"You're nutters, all of you," Auralie muttered as she rolled over, trying to ignore their stares. Luckily for her, Madame Pomfrey chose that moment to shoo the three of them out of the hospital wing for upsetting her precious patient.

**A/N: I would really appreciate some feedback! I hoped you enjoyed this installment!**


	7. Chapter Six: Dumbledore's Surprise

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything. Well, except Auralie and the plot.**

**A/N: Sorry for such a long wait. Basically I've had the most stressful month and a half. I got dumped. Then I had to have a benige tumor removed from my ovary, and I would have written this during recovery, but turns out that I'm allergic to most major pain killers. Pain does not make good inspiration. After that, I had midterms and TONS of make up work. Then I got back together with my boy. Then he broke his leg and had to have surgery. That happened yesterday, and this wouldn't be up today, but he forced me to write. I'm not kidding. He refused to talk to me until I promised to update. I love him very much, so... This is for my boy. :)**

Chapter Six: Dumbledore's Surprise

Flames danced wickedly in the fireplace in the Slytherin common room as Draco moodily glared into it. She was a Gryffindor, and he would never win her trust or her friendship. He was a good as dead. He was actually amazed that his father wasn't trying to break down the entrance to common room right now to ask him how he had let this happen and why the sorting hat exploded. All was lost, and he didn't know how to get himself out of this bind.

As he was getting lost in these thoughts of gloom and doom, he didn't notice the large screech owl fly in to the common room. It was perched on the mantle and looking quite irritated with the lack of attention. Hooting indignantly, it flapped its wings a couple of times to get Draco's attention. When that didn't work, it knocked the nearest house cup award off of the mantle. The loud crash brought Draco's thoughts back to the present. He saw the owl and inwardly groaned. There wasn't a doubt in his mind that this letter was from his father.

_My dearest son,_

_I have received word from one of my informants that you have made quite the impression with the target already. It joys me to hear of your successes. If all goes well, your rewards will be beyond comprehension. Though if you fail… Then your fate is beyond even my control… I have heard news of the sorting hat exploding. You would do well to make sure that our target is not harmed a moment before the Dark Lord commands it. I know it must come as a surprise, but this one we need to keep alive. For now… Your mother sends her love. I would follow your orders if you ever want to see her again…_

_Best Wishes,_

_Father_

How dare he bring up his mother like this! She never wanted anything to do with dark magic, but Lucius Malfoy always gets his way. Draco knew that he had no choice in the matter. He never wanted to hurt anyone, but he never had a choice in his own actions. As he threw the parchment in to the dancing flames, a tear slid down his cheek. Only one tear for the one life he was about to destroy.

* * *

A couple of days later while sitting idly in the hospital wing, Auralie was bored out of her mind. She felt completely herself again, and Madame Pomfrey had, thankfully, managed to repair her singed hair. She could not wait to get out of this place, and she didn't know why they still had her in here. She fixed her gaze on the ceiling as she let her mind wander. Earlier that day, she had counted how many tiles made up the ceiling to ease her bored mind.

"Two thousand, three hundred ninety-seven," she whispered softly, knowing that no one would hear her.

"Actually, there are exactly two thousand, five hundred tiles in this fine ceiling," a gentle voice said.

Auralie shot up in her bed. How had she not heard someone walk in? It wasn't as though there was anything else to distract her attention. She looked around to see who had spoken and saw, much to her surprise, Professor Dumbledore standing in the entrance of the ward. He smiled at her slightly, his eyes twinkling in the way that only Dumbledore's eyes could.

"Once as a child, I had the pleasure of being stuck in here for quite some time. I managed to find the time to count the ceiling tiles as well," he answered her unspoken question.

Auralie stared at him before asking, "Why were you in the hospital wing for so long?"

Dumbledore slowly made his way down to the end of the ward where she was lying as he carefully replied, "I was in here for close to the same reason as you are now."

"Do you mean the sorting hat exploded on you too?" She questioned him in mild disbelief.

"Oh, Merlin no!" Dumbledore replied quickly, "The hat exploding was a unique case, quite unlike anything I've ever seen."

Confused, Auralie stated, "I don't understand."

Dumbledore continued his stroll down the ward and eventually sat on the bed next to hers, giving himself a little more time to think about how to word his answer.

"It would take some powerful, ancient magic to make an object as powerful as the sorting hat to explode," he began. "Have you ever noticed anything strange happening when you were angry or scared?"

Auralie raised an eyebrow confusion and said with as little sarcasm as she could muster, "Yes, that's why I'm here. I've know that I was a witch for ages now."

"Strange for a witch or wizard, I mean…" Dumbledore clarified.

Auralie tried to think back to how she felt when she was being sorted. That night, frustration at Potter's mock sympathy and at the hat wanting to put her in Gryffindor with the golden trio seemed to seep through her very pores. She had wished that something would just zap the hat and shut it up. Fate seemed to be on her side that night, seeing how the hat did blow up.

Auralie rolled her eyes at the very thought of the hat and electricity seemed to be creating a strange tension in the air around her. The hair on her arms stood up a little.

"Surely you don't think _I_ blew up the hat?" She looked at him with her arms crossed.

Dumbledore did not respond; he merely inclined his head in her direction.

"That's impossible though!" Auralie exclaimed. "I'm not powerful enough to blow up a hat on accident! I don't even know the proper incantation! How could I ever have something to do with this?"

Her rant continued at full speed for about five minutes or so. She was just beginning to work herself into a right state but Dumbledore raised one of his hands slightly to put an end to her hysteria.

"It appears that you have developed or were born with a very rare set of magical powers, Auralie. Not only are your powers very rare but they are exceedingly dangerous not only to those around you but to yourself as well," Dumbledore explained softly.

After a minute or so of trying to comprehend all of this new information, she asked, "Wouldn't I have known about this power before? I mean, I've known I was a witch my whole life!"

"Often time powers this rare are not immediately evident until late adolescence," Dumbledore explained. "In fact, the nature of your powers would probably be subtle enough that, if it hadn't been for the sorting hat's untimely explosion, it could have been years before anyone even noticed your gifts. Have you ever noticed how the weather always seems to suite your mood?"

Auralie's mind drifted to her mother's funeral. It was raining so hard that many of the roads in the small town she used to live in had to be closed off due to flooding. She sat in the graveyard well after the funeral, sitting next to her mother's grave, wishing that she would just drown in the rain or her own tears. She probably would still be in that very spot if it hadn't been for the Ministry official that had all but dragged her into a magical car to take her to a temporary home.

"Just because I have doesn't mean anything," Auralie spat out accusingly. "A person's mood is often influenced by the weather."

Dumbledore shook his head sadly. "It seems that you are the great-great-great-great-great granddaughter of a great sorceress, and these things often skip seven generations or more. You, my dear, can control the weather, as well as some other things."

Auralie's eyes grew wide. "Impossible. I'm not. I can't be. I _refuse_ to be. I don't want to be special."

She started breathing faster and faster until she was hyperventilating. Before Dumbledore could do anything, she promptly fainted.

**A/N: Please review. If not for me, thank my boy for having me update! (And this is the longest one so far!)**


	8. Chapter Seven: Glares and Giggles

**Disclaimer: I tried to convince everyone that I owned Harry Potter, but only my rubber duck, Boris, believed me.**

**A/N: So, everyone should be celebrating, because, I have never had a chapter out so quickly. Look what happens when people review. This chapter goes to Yoz. Thank you for giving me a review that not only scared me into writing faster but made me laugh until I almost cried. And yes, I would like a cookie.**

Chapter Seven:

Auralie slowly opened her eyes, hesitating due to her already pounding head. Several people were surrounding her, and she wondered, idly, if she was experiencing déjà vu. Only a couple of days ago she remembered something very similar happening to her. Instead of the golden trio surrounding her, three staff members were sitting around her bed arguing about something in loud stage whispers apparently oblivious to the fact that the subject of their argument had, in fact, woken up.

"She deserves to know!" A very irate Professor McGonagall whispered.

A weary-looking Professor Dumbledore shook his head sadly. "She isn't ready yet. Look how she handled the news of her powers."

"Will the two of you settle down? She needs her rest! She is _my_ patient, and I demand that you take this argument elsewhere!" Madame Pomfrey hissed at both professors while giving them her very worst death glare.

Both of the professors stopped talking at once and merely expressed their displeasure by childishly giving each other stern looks.

Her curiosity thoroughly intrigued, Auralie asked, "Tell me what?"

"Nothing, Ms. Shasta," Professor Dumbledore replied softly, keeping his eyes on his fellow professor. "Nothing at all."

Professor McGonagall gave the merest huff of annoyance before getting out of her chair and storming out of the ward. Madame Pomfrey took this opportunity to fuss with her only patient, checking her vitals and making sure that she would be alright. After forcing Auralie to consume many potions that all tasted terrible, she too retired from the ward.

"What is it?" Auralie asked. "In addition to magical weather powers have you also found my long-lost twin? Or have you just stopped by to tell me that I am going to be the new queen of the universe?"

She gave Dumbledore a glare nearly equal to Professor McGonagall's as he chuckled at her words.

When he had calmed down a few moments later, he replied, "I assure you that you are an only child and that the universe is not in need of any queen. I am, however, here to inform you that you will be able to leave the hospital wing in an hour when the calming draft Madame Pomfrey just administered you kicks in. You will have to attend a few extra lessons in order to learn how to control your emotions so that your powers don't hurt you or anyone else again. Try to stay out of emotionally challenging situations until the beginning of term. I will inform you of your first lesson by owl. I would advise you, though, to not tell anyone of your powers. There are some that would use your powers for their own devices."

As the headmaster left her in the hospital wing, she began to wonder what her extra lessons were going to be like. Learning how to control her emotions would seem dull. She would much rather learn to control her new powers, something that she would probably have to teach herself.

* * *

Draco hid himself in an empty classroom as he heard Professor Dumbledore exit the hospital wing. Had he just overheard what he thought that he heard? Auralie Shasta, the girl he was supposed to be keeping tabs on, was a powerful sorceress, or she would be once she learned to control her powers. It was now very clear why Voldemort did not want her hurt. A sorceress could be a very powerful asset, one that the Dark Lord could not let the good side have.

Pretending that he had not heard a thing, Draco entered the hospital wing quietly, not wanting to alert Madame Pomfrey that he was there. When he reached Auralie's bed, he saw her staring intently at the ceiling. He wondered briefly if she had been petrified but saw her blink and decided that she was just deep in thought.

He leaned over and whispered softly, his breath tickling her ear, "Knut for your thoughts, my dear?"

She must have jumped a foot and a half.

"Merlin's beard!" She swore, clutching at her chest. "Don't do that! It's creepy!"

Draco feigned a hurt expression. "I thought I might be sexy, but you can't possibly think that anything is sexy while wearing those lovely pajamas."

Auralie blushed at this comment. She had been forced to wear hospital regulation, puke orange pajamas, which, she thought didn't do her any justice. She glared half-heartedly at the boy and asked, "What do you want, Malfoy?"

"Malfoy? You've been in Gryffindor house for less than a month and I've already been reduced to Malfoy?" Draco asked her honestly. "I came in here for some intelligent conversation, but I might have better luck with the Weasel."

He made as though he was going to leave, but Auralie stopped him by grabbing his arm. Such a simple gesture stunned him, and he honestly didn't know why.

"Don't be such a drama queen, Draco, and tell me what has been going on in the real world." Auralie chuckled while rolling her eyes at his antics.

"I don't know…" Draco replied. "I could get such verbal abuse from Granger."

"Sorry," Auralie corrected herself. "Draco, stop acting like the high emperor of drama?"

"Well…" Draco said lamely. "If you insist… Honestly, with this treatment my ego will soon be as big as Potter's."

Auralie laughed quietly at this statement, and he found himself smiling too. He liked making her smile; it made him feel like everything would be alright. This revelation startled Draco. Since when did he care about someone else's feelings? His smile faded quickly. This couldn't happen to him.

"Sorry, love," He apologized. "You'll have to keep pining over me. I've just remembered that Filch has us cleaning the trophy room in a couple of minutes."

He dashed out of the ward and back into the empty classroom. He wouldn't let himself have feelings for anyone and certainly not this particular girl. This called for one thing: a nice chat with his favorite potions professor.

**A/N: You can do it! You can press the little blueish button! Come on! That was my fastest update ever! Please?**


	9. Chapter Eight: Filch's Slaves

**Disclaimer: A little birdy once told me that I owned Harry Potter, but I didn't believe it.**

**A/N: Sorry it took so long for the new chapter. I had a bit of writer's block, and then my muse decided to go to France without me. Now that she's back, I'm trying to write as fast as I can.**

Chapter Eight: Filch's Slaves

About a half hour after Draco rushed out of the hospital wing, Madame Pomfrey had on final check of Auralie's vitals. Everything was, naturally, fine with Auralie, but Madame Pomfrey looked for any small excuse to keep students in the hospital wing, therefore, out of trouble.

"Despite my professional opinion, Professor Dumbledore believes that you are fit to leave the hospital wing," the nurse grimaced. "Take it easy, have plenty of rest, and take the calming draft every four hours or else you will be right back in here! The other students are up in the trophy room, helping Mr. Filch polish the school awards. You may go join them but take it easy!"

Auralie could not wait to get out of the hospital wing. She quickly changed into her clothes that had been washed and mended from the explosion. It had been absolutely horrid being locked up in the ward with hardly any visitors. Now she was free, or at least, she had a change of scenery. She walked out of the wing and into the corridor and looked around. Where was the trophy room? Draco hadn't shown it to her when giving her the tour of the castle. Starting down one way, she was startled when she heard a voice behind her.

"There you are!" The overly cheerful voice called out. "We sent Malfoy to get you over an hour ago. Bloody git, he's probably off somewhere plotting our slow and painful demise."

Auralie turned to see the red-haired boy that was friends with Harry Potter. She chuckled slightly; knowing Draco, he probably was plotting against the golden trio, not that she couldn't blame him. Most of the time their overly optimistic spirits made her want to puke. At least the red-head was a little gloomy sometimes, even if it was typically directed at Draco.

"I don't think we've been introduced," the boy continued. "I'm Ron, Ron Weasely. I already know from Harry and 'Mione that you're Auralie Shasta from the _Daily Prophet_ and all. I'm really sorry about your loss; I can't even imagine losing my mum. Anyway, Filch will be after our heads if we aren't back soon."

Auralie was speechless. How dare a perfect stranger, who didn't even know her mother, bring up her death. Rage started to boil somewhere deep inside of her. She tried to suppress it, but teenagers are rarely known for having any sort of control over their emotions.

"You're right. You can't imagine how I'm feeling, none of you can. Not even your precious Potter really knows how I feel. I've just lost _my mother_, my best friend in the whole world and have been shipped halfway across the world to live with my biological father whose name I don't even know. I had to leave my school, my friends and my life to live with a perfect stranger in another hemisphere." Auralie snapped at him as the candles in the corridor began to flicker. "So don't go wasting your precious pity on me. I may not have a single person in this world that loves me, but I am worth more than the pity of three nosy, emotionally apathetic sixteen-year-olds who have never experienced real loss."

Auralie turned on her heel, burst into the nearest deserted classroom, and locked the door before she finally lost control and sank to the floor, sobbing in grief and anger. After a few minutes of weeping along to the sounds of the storm now raging outside, she noticed that she was not alone. Draco had her in his arms and was patting her back soothingly. Auralie stopped crying immediately, more from the shock of such a friendly gesture from him.

"That Weasel has some nerve," Draco whispered to her softly when he noticed that she seemed a little calmer.

"You heard?" Auralie asked timidly, a little embarrassed that someone had overheard her little outburst.

"My dear, I think half of the castle heard," Draco chuckled as he stroked her cheek softly. "Remind me to never piss you off. You have some seriously powerful lungs and a very strong vocabulary. Weasely might have wet himself."

Auralie giggled a little, and Draco gently wiped away her tears with a handkerchief that he pulled out of his pocket. He had not meant to comfort her when she burst into _his_ deserted classroom, but he could not just leave her crying on the floor. This was the last time though. After this moment, Draco would cease to be human and not let his heart get in the way of his job.

"Come on, love," Draco said. "Filch probably has a reward for our capture by now."

With those words, Draco gently helped her to her feet and led her out of the classroom.

* * *

When the two of them had finally reached the trophy room a mere half hour later, Filch looked prepared to murder them where they stood. He glared daggers at them while they made their way across the very large trophy room. A ugly tabby cat with disturbing crimson eyes sat next to her master glaring at the two of the in a fashion so like Filch that Auralie wondered if he had trained her to do that.

"You're late!" the man hissed, his entire face contorting as he tried to glare even more fiercely. "I sent you to fetch her hours ago. It does not take that long to get back from the hospital wing. If only it were the school year… I could give you all detentions for the next month if it were only the school year!"

"I am very sorry Mr. Filch," Auralie replied as politely and calmly as she could muster. "Madame Pomfrey would only just let me out of the hospital wing. Draco must have waiting for at least a half hour for her to release me. You must know how she is, always looking for an excuse to keep a student in her care."

She put on a mask of such innocence that it would put a Slytherin to shame. Her eyes got so big and round that Draco was wondering if she had muttered some sort of glamour spell under her breath to pull off such a look. Anyone who looked at her could not help believing that she was, indeed, very apologetic for keeping everyone else waiting. Even Ron nearly forgot that she had nearly blown him up outside of the hospital wing. Filch did not stand a chance under the power of her gaze.

"Well, er," Filch stammered. "Try not to do it again. Now get to work, both of you."

"Sir," Draco spoke up. "Madame Pomfrey told her to rest. I would hate for her to end up back in the hospital wing because she polished too many trophies today."

"In that case, you can polish her share too!" Filch snapped at him, clearly Auralie's charms weren't going to help Draco out any. "Miss Shasta, you may sit and watch. It would not be safe for you to wander about the castle by yourself in your weakened state."

He pulled up a squishy armchair close to where the rest of the students were working for Auralie to sit upon. She perched on the edge of the chair, trying to sit as far away from Filch, who was trying to engage her in conversation, as possible. Her fellow Gryffindors eyed her suspiciously, which was not surprising considering that Filch had shown the slightest bit of kindness to any student. Draco even raised an eyebrow at her when he turned around to reach for a clean cloth the wipe down the next trophy.

"Save me!" Auralie mouthed at him, but before he even had a chance to do anything a ghost with a large ruff on glided through the wall right in front of them. Auralie gasped audibly because she had never seen a ghost before. Her previous school was too new to have any resident ghosts lurking around.

"Mr. Filch!" The ghost shouted in a surprisingly gloomy tone. "Peeves has gotten into the kitchens again! The house elves are threatening a strike if we do not get him out of there soon!"

Filch looked almost sadly at Auralie before he turned the other students. "I will be right back after sorting this out! I want to see some progress when I do get back! No messing around and certainly no magic!"

He dashed out of the room, the ghost following him after giving Harry a wink. Everyone threw down their rags and plopped on the floor surrounding Auralie's chair, except for Draco who sat on the arm of the chair.

"I thought we'd never get rid of him!" Harry yawned as he leaned against the case that they had just been working on.

"Yes, thank goodness that Ron asked Nearly Headless Nick to help us out or else we would have been cleaning for the rest of the day." Hermione agreed, her very voice making Auralie's skin crawl.

Ron grinned sheepishly as Hermione continued, "It would have been a fine way to greet a new student by forcing her to clean all day. Mind, you will probably have to join us tomorrow. I _do_ hope that you are feeling better since we visited you in the hospital wing. I know that the head trauma was just making you a little cranky. Welcome to Gryffindor! I know that you are just going to _adore_ being in the same house as all of us. I mean, it _is_ the best house of them all. You are so lucky to have this opportunity to come over here. I just can't wait to show you around! Our room has an excellent view! I mean, you can see the lake and everything!"

Auralie was smiling and nodding, not really paying attention to what the girl was rambling off until two words stopped her; 'our room.'

"What?" Auralie gasped. "You mean… I'm going to be sharing a room with you?"

Apparently Hermione mistook the look of horror on her face for being pleasantly surprised. "I know! Can you believe it?" She asked Auralie who was having difficulties keeping her jaw from dropping. "We are going to have such a great year! We can study together! Do you happen to know what classes you are taking this year?"

Auralie ignored her and turned to Draco who was trying very hard to keep his face emotionless, though she could see the laughter in his eyes.

"You knew?" She asked him as shock and anger spread through her system.

"Well," Draco replied. "I really didn't want to be the one to spread the news to you. You know that whole 'don't shoot the messenger' thing probably wouldn't have gotten me very far."

She smiled weakly at this, still a little shell shocked. "I think I could use another calming draft," she finally whispered several minutes later.

**A/N: Please review! You know that you want to!**


	10. Chapter Nine: A Serpent's Kiss

**Disclaimer: I do not in any way, shape or form own Harry Potter.**

**A/N: The lateness is due to writer's block in combination of being a full time student and having two jobs. If it helps, I'm already working on the next one! Anyways, this chapter is dedicated to ElvenWolf, who reviewed and seriously made my day when I saw it.**

Chapter Nine: A Serpent's Kiss

After a long day of sitting in the trophy room trying not to be too annoyed with Filch sucking up to her or the golden trio's excessive prattle, Auralie was looking forward to dinner. Even if the trio continued to talk at her, she was beginning to think that a change in scenery would be nice. After all, staring at trophies while Filch gushes about how he polished them at least once a week can wear on anyone's nerves. She hoped that she might get a chance to talk to Draco, without the mutinous glares she had endured all day from the trio, at dinner, but she had doubts of whether Gryffindor's tragic hero would allow such behavior. Harry seemed to like having a little court of followers around him at all times, and if anything didn't agree with Gryffindor's golden boy, then it wasn't supposed to be tolerated by the rest of the masses. Maybe things were different here, but at her old school, students were taught to accept others despite their differences. It didn't always work, but it was better than promoting rivalry.

As she pondered this, Draco came over to her chair and offered her a hand up.

"It's alright," Auralie commented. "I think Madame Pomfrey will allow me to stand up on my own."

His smirk faded a little as he replied, "I insist. It may be erring on the side of caution, but dealing with that lot is much harder without a witness. They would never dare to hex me in front of you because something might blow up."

Auralie grinned sheepishly, hoping that she wasn't blushing too badly. The memory was still too recent for her to laugh about, but she allowed him to help her to her feet.

"Thanks," she returned with a smile. "We should probably hurry down to dinner before all the food is gone."

Draco chucked slightly, "Very true. If we don't leave soon, then Weasley is bound to eat it all, and you should probably have a decent sized meal or else all those calming drafts could make a return visit."

"Really?" Auralie asked. "I feel fine right now."

"You've already had about three times the recommended dose. That's enough to make a mountain troll woozy, and sharing a room with Granger is probably going to make you need to take a few more doses." Draco answered honestly.

"Just reminding me makes me want another one," she groaned, praying that all of the potions would put her out of her misery before Hermione started suggesting all night study sessions again.

"Come on, it won't be that bad," Draco commented with a small grin. Auralie raised an eyebrow suspiciously. "At least you will have an endless supply of stories to entertain me with."

She rolled her eyes. "She is going to be the death of me, I swear."

He shook his head, laughing a little. "Come on; let's head towards the great hall." With those words, he wrapped an arm around her shoulders as if to guide her to dinner. The portraits all raised their eyebrows as the pair of them passed on the way to dinner.

* * *

Dinner was a quiet affair with the golden trio only muttering indistinctly and sending dark looks at Draco. When everyone had finished eating, Dumbledore made a brief announcement, stating what everyone but Auralie knew, that in order to keep Mr. Filch from having the house elves clean multiple common rooms with such few people, everyone was to be staying in Gryffindor tower. Draco grimaced at hearing this announcement for the second time. At first he was excited to see how the Gryffindors lived, but he hated how the common room was so bright at energetic. He missed the heavy, dark furnishings of the Slytherin common room instead of the fiery and bright Gryffindor's common room. His only happiness came from the fact that he had his own room and Auralie would be close enough to keep an eye on.

Everyone made their way to the portrait hole together. When they were all gathered around the painting of that abomination in pink, which the Gryffindors lovingly called the Fat Lady, Hermione made a great show of how to open the common room, to which Auralie just rolled her eyes. They climbed into the common room, and Draco heard Auralie gasp. He turned to her and chuckled slightly at the look of horror that spread over her face.

"I can't believe that I'm in this house," she whispered when she had found her voice. "It's horrid. It's… Well, it's obvious that there hasn't been an interior designer ever come through this house."

Smirking, Draco muttered in her ear, "No, only the Slytherins have any form of class around here. I suppose you could say that the Gryffindors are brave for trying to mix so many different shades of red."

This caused her to choke down some laughter, though, Draco noted that her face burned almost scarlet in the process of doing so.

"So what do you think?" Hermione asked as she led them further into the common room, sweeping her arms in a Vanna White sort of way.

"It's… So…" Auralie spluttered incoherently.

"Indescribable, is the word I think she's looking for," Draco interrupted, which caused Auralie to fall into another silent fit of laughter and give him a hard elbow to his side.

Draco gave her a glare, but there wasn't any real hurt in it. "Shouldn't you be off to bed?" He asked her with a smirk knowing that this was what she least wanted.

"Oh yes! You must keep up your strength," Hermione agreed with him for once in her life. "I'll show you our room."

As Auralie started to follow her out of the room, Draco caught her arm and spun her back to him.

"I have four extra beds in my room if she gets on your nerves too much," Draco whispered in her ear.

"Thank you for the offer, but I think I can handle her." She winked at him. "Goodnight. I'll tell you all about it over breakfast."

"You'd better," Draco growled menacingly. He leaned in and gave her a lingering peck on her cheek, dangerously close to her lips. "Goodnight, _darling_."

Before she could even catch her breath, he had disappeared up the boys' staircase, leaving her to wonder what had just happened.

**A/N: jedi hand wave thing You will review. You WILL review!**


	11. Chapter Ten: The Common Room

Chapter Ten: The Common Room

The next morning, Draco sat in a rather uncomfortable chair by the large windows in the common room watching the sun slowly rise above the horizon in a perfectly cloudless sky. For some reason, he had been unable to sleep, so he came down to think for awhile. As he watched the sky change from grey to oranges and yellows, he saw a brown spot in the distance. He rubbed his eyes, thinking that he was finally growing weary enough to get some rest, but when he opened his eyes the speck was larger. Squinting a bit, he could make out a bird of sorts, but it was too early for post to arrive. Wondering who could possibly be getting mail at this hour of the morning, it dawned on him that perhaps the reason he'd awoken so ungodly early in the morning was because his father had forced him to so he could receive a letter away from prying eyes. As the bird flew closer and closer, its intent clearly being the Gryffindor common room, the more he realized that his assumption was true and the letter was for him.

When the owl flew close enough, Draco opened the window as quietly as he could so as to not wake up any of his fellow students. It landed almost silently and offered him the letter. He grabbed it as gently as he could so no one would hear the crinkling of parchment. As soon as the bird was free of its burden, it took flight again with hardly even a rustle of its feathers. For a moment, Draco stared at the scroll wondering what was the so important that his father used one of his rare stealth owls to send it. Curious, he broke the wax seal bearing his father's personal crest of a falcon pecking the eyes of a rabbit and unrolled the parchment. It simply read:

_Draco,_

_My most trusted spy tells me of your excellent progress in winning the trust of the target. My master requests that you give me a full account of your actions and progress rather to rely on information that could be tainted by Dumbledore's influence. Floo me at my office at ten this evening for your own good. Make sure that the target does not suspect anything of you. It is _imperative_ that you gain her fullest trust for both you and your mother's sake._

_Father_

He stared at the parchment for a few minutes before reading it again to make sure that he had understood everything. He was being watched, and knowing father, he was probably under constant surveillance by someone that he least expected. How on earth was he going to be able to slip away if someone was watching him all of the time? Auralie would definitely be suspicious if he just disappeared for a few hours, especially since she would, undoubtedly, want to put off going to her own room for as long as she could. He had no idea on how to distract her for a couple of hours, and there was no way that he could miss out on a meeting with his father.

As he stared out the window at the rising sun, plotting viciously, he was startled by a slender hand that lightly touched his shoulder, almost sympathetically. Nearly jumping a foot, he whirled around and glared at the owner of the offending hand that had interrupted his less than pleasant thoughts.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you," Auralie said softly, with a look of concern that creased her forehead. "I couldn't help but read over your shoulder. It's too bad about what happened to your mother."

In response to his bewildered expression, she continued, "Your letter. It said that your mother was admitted to St. Mungo's late last night with a bad case of dragon pox. I heard it's worse in adults than it is in children. I hope she's alright."

Comprehension dawned on him. His father must have placed a charm on the parchment that made everyone else but him read something other than the original message.

"Oh, yeah, the dragon pox," Draco replied in a faint voice as though the shock of reading the letter was too hard for him to bear. "I know that it's really rare from people to die from it, but I can't help but worry about her. She's my mom. She's supposed to be indestructible."

Auralie sank down on the arm of the chair and gave him a light hug, the act of which nearly caused Draco to jump in fright again. "I know it's hard, but I'm sure she'll pull through. Just, if you ever need to talk to someone, I'm here. I'm probably the only person in this place who could possibly understand."

Hugging her back a little harder, Draco buried his head into her shoulder to hide his smirk of triumph. He had her compassion, her trust, and now, an excuse to leave the castle for the evening. Father would be most happy with these developments.

After a day spent exploring the grounds which were unusually bright and sunny all day long, Auralie and Draco sat in the common room playing chess. She was steadily beating him, but she noticed that he was paying more attention to the time on his watch rather than on the game so she had no joy in this victory. Staring distractedly into the fire, he had yet to notice that she had made her move over ten minutes ago. She rolled her eyes and tapped him lightly on the shoulder.

"Draco!" She hissed at him in a quiet whisper. "I know that you're worried about your mother, but the boy-who-lived-to-suspect-you thinks that you're up to something sinister."

With a quick glance over at the boy in question who was, in fact, studying Draco with a hard look, Draco turned back to the board. Grinding his teeth in irritation of having to be in the constant company of the golden-boy, he idly moved his bishop.

"Either you are the _worst_ chess player in the world, or you are terrible at pretending to lose," She growled at him in irritation. "You are a Slytherin, act like one! Oh, and checkmate."

With one last move of her queen, the animated chess piece stabbed Draco's king in the heart with an almost annoyed expression on her face.

Draco turned away from the fire to shoot a glare at her. To the untrained eye, it would look like he wanted to hit her, but she noticed the slight tremble in his lip and the tears welling up in his eyes. He was such a sight, that it hurt her to look at him like this.

"What do I need to do to sneak you into the hospital?" She asked him with a sigh. She really did not enjoy breaking the rules, but if it upset the trio and made Draco feel a little better, she would do it. She was so worried about him that she did not even notice the slight sparkle in his eye that would have even convinced Granger that he was up to something bad.

A/N: Sorry it's been so long! Please review!


	12. Chapter Eleven: A Grate Day

Chapter Eleven: A Grate Day

Stumbling out of the fireplace in his father's office, he quickly straightened out his clothes and quietly charmed the ash off of his clothing before his father could notice him. This meeting was going to be bad enough without a lecture about dishonoring the family name by getting a little dirty in the floo like a person of lesser blood would do. Some how his father expected him to remain pristine in a cloud of ash and smoke, which was a little unrealistic for anyone much less someone who was not supposed to be using magic outside of school.

After brushing off the last bit of ash off of his shoulder, he looked up and saw his father staring rigidly out of the window behind his ornately carved desk. He was observing the street below with the distinct air of a king observing the actions of the mud-covered beggars who were worth less to him than the grass stuck to the gum on his two-thousand galleon shoes.

"You're late," his father said almost lazily, not even bothering to turn around to look at him.

Knowing that he was really five minutes early, Draco still made his excuses. "I apologize father. The girl wanted to play chess, and I was unable to come up with a good reason why I could not. It took a few minutes to convince her that I was too upset to concentrate properly. The silly Gryffindor felt bad about beating me when I was down and let me go to bed early."

Turning to finally take a good look at his son, who was wearing a smug look, he replied coolly, "That is unacceptable. You should try to think faster on your feet next time. She is only a Gryffindor, you pathetic excuse for a Slytherin."

With a flick of his father's wand and one calmly uttered word, he fell to his knees in agony. His limbs were burning as though hot oil was being poured over them, but he tried to fight the twitching that came with the pain and made it even more unbearable. After a minute, his father strengthened the curse a bit, and Draco could not take any more and curled up in a ball on the floor whimpering slightly. A minute later, the pain stopped, and he stiffly got to his feet and wiped his tears away noticing that his twitching arms had blackened his left eye. It would be a little difficult to explain Auralie how he got it, but he supposed that his father was just trying to provide him with the opportunity to practice his cunning.

"Come," Lucius said imperiously. "The Dark Lord waits for us. You had best hope that your tardiness has not angered him too much."

Resisting the urge to roll his eyes, Draco grabbed his father's hand so they could apparate to the new meeting place. Ever since Arthur Weasley's raid on the Malfoy manor, it had been deemed by his darkness not to be a safe place for their meetings. When the spinning had stopped, Draco opened his eyes and saw they were on the deck of an industrial looking ship. It mildly surprised him to be on a moving object, but it made sense that apparating to it would be impossible if you did not know its exact location in the ocean. Looking around as he followed his father, all he could see was water. The only way he would be able to tell where they were would be by the stars, but the sky was almost conveniently overcast.

They descended into the belly of the ship into a space that had been magically remodeled into what looked like a throne room of a badly cared for castle. The walls were covered in moss and were damp. There was an eerie feeling in the air as though the spirits of the crew that the dark lord had killed still lingered. He continued to follow his father until he stopped to kiss the hem of his lord, which Draco also did obediently.

He could tell from the way his father pinched his lips that he was a little upset that the dark lord ignored their tardiness, Draco felt a little smug that his mission was important enough to grant him these small favors.

You-know-who turned to his father expectantly and raised an eyebrow or he rather raised where his eyebrow should have been.

"My lord," his father said stepping forward from the rest of the circle. "My son has been working hard on his mission. He is here with his report, your grace."

"Very well Lucius. Come here boy," the slimy creature hissed with a slight crook of what Draco supposed were his fingers poking out of the sleeve of his robe, although the odd gray color of his skin did not appear to be human.

He took a slight step forward and bowed gracefully, though it pleased his father to see him shake slightly.

"Oh great one," Draco said trying to fight the edge of sarcasm as he looked upon the creature he was supposed to bow down to. "I have gained the target's trust through pretending to be her friend. I have even managed to convince her that Harry is delusional when it comes to me. She trusts me implicitly, my lord."

"Does she suspect foul play in her mother's demise?" the Dark Lord asked with what might have been a smirk if he actually had possessed any emotions.

"She does suspect foul play, but she believes her mother to have cut all ties with England and knows nothing of our involvement." He responded, pleased with his work.

"Excellent," You-know-who replied after a second. "Perhaps she will come to our side on her own? It would be easier to control her if she comes willingly. Try to convince her we can offer her revenge on her mother's murderer if she joins."

"Surely it is just an empty promise, my lord?" Lucius asked a bit hesitantly. "You would not _really_ let the girl kill me?"

"Now Lucius," the Dark Lord answered. "Why would I have any reason to kill you if you are successful in _your_ mission? Now leave me; it is time to feed Nagini."

Lucius steered Draco sharply up the stairs to the deck. Before he even had a chance to ask what the hurry was, they had already begun to apparate away.

Stumbling out of the grate in the common room, Draco's hand instinctively went to his face to protect his black eye. Everyone turned towards him as he picked himself off of the floor and brushed the ash off.

Rushing to his side to help him, Auralie cried, "What did you do to your eye?"

The trio naturally kept giving each other significant looks and glancing pointedly at Draco, which annoyed him immensely. It would have been clear to even the most dim-witted Hufflepuff that they thought he was up to something. Clearly, Gryffindors were not chosen for their subtlety.

"You can stop that now!" Draco snapped at them irritated. "I'm not plotting the demise of the wizarding world as we know it. I did not get this black eye by ticking off some evil overlord. Sorry to disappoint your overactive imaginations, but there is merely a loose brick in a fireplace nearby Leeds. In fact, I am even going to write a letter first thing in the morning to the department of magical transportation to make sure that this does not happen to anyone else. Satisfied? I am quite sure that you only have a million questions that are burning on the tip of your tongues. So go ahead and ask them! Go ahead! Interrogation time begins now."

The three of them looked at each other for a minute, communicating something silently between them, before Ron replied, "You know, we think we'll pass this time. Fred and George live near Leeds; it was probably one of their booby traps that got you."

"Well that was anti-climatic," Draco muttered under his breath as he turned to Auralie. "Sorry about that, long day."

"Don't worry about it," She said calmly. "I'd offer to get you something, but I'm not good with potions like my mom, so I'd probably turn your face orange."

"Can't have that happening!" Draco said while mock primping. "My fan club would claw your eyes out. Though if you're offering to get into a catfight with them, can I watch?"

"You so wish…" She responded lightly. "How's your mom holding up?"

As they sank onto a couch as far away from the trio as possible, Draco replied, "The nurses told me that her color was a bit better today, but it's still up in the air."

"Oh, well if you ever need to talk…" Auralie offered.

"I think I could just use a good night's sleep," he responded automatically as his thoughts drifted to his father's half-crazed request after their meeting with the dark lord. "As I said earlier, it's been a long day."

She looked up at him with her eyes full of understanding and gave him a brief hug. "Goodnight. I'll see you in the morning."

"Yeah…" Draco said running a hand through his hair lost in thought. "I'll see you later."

As he walked up to his room, he began to wonder how he got into this mess. He knew he was working for the wrong people for all the right reasons but was there really a way for him to do his father's bidding, still please the dark lord, avoid attracting attention from Dumbledore and his mindless followers, and make it out alive? His orders were so conflicting that he did not even try to consider his own motives in this messed up equation. On one hand the dark lord wanted Auralie for her talent until he could find some way to take her power from her. On the other hand his father wanted Auralie to die in the crossfire so that his own life was not on the line. All he wanted was to keep Auarlie alive, and the only way was to put her in the path of the people who wanted to kill her the most. This way, he was at least extending her life by at least a year, maybe two if she did not anger the dark lord. His last thought before he fell into a deep and troubled sleep was that this is a very screwed up world we live in.

**A/N: Wow! That was a fast update! Please leave a review!**


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